Legendary brand will continue even though corporate history is a mess.

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On a semi-holiday like today's Martin Luther King Jr./Inauguration Day, the story of a venerable brand like Atari filing for bankruptcy is making a decent splash all over the media. Many of these stories are angling the story as an "end of an era" piece, the final "full stop" on a company that defined video games for a significant part of the '70s and '80s. While that's partly true, the convoluted history of the Atari brand shows just how little the current "Atari" has to do with the company aging gamers remember, and how enduring the brand continues to be.

The many deaths of Atari

The truth is, the company that bears the name "Atari" today bears surprisingly little relationship to the Atari that made a name for itself with arcade games like Pong and the Video Computer System (i.e. the Atari 2600) back in the '70s. That company, Atari Inc., was founded in 1974 by Nolan Bushnell and featured employees like future Apple Computer luminaries Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs.

Atari was purchased by Warner Communications way back in 1976, and the video game giant grew to become a huge part of the massive Warner corporation over the coming years—until the video game crash of the early '80s. This marks the first time that Atari "died," as Warner split the company up and sold it off for parts in 1984.

The portion of the original Atari responsible for arcade games was split off into a new company, Atari Games Inc., which went on to make well-remembered "Silver Age" arcade classics like Gauntlet, Marble Madness, Paperboy, and San Francisco Rush. Atari Games was repurchased by Time Warner Interactive in 1993 and was then transferred to WMS Industries in 1996, which renamed the company Midway Games West.

The arcade industry continued to decline in the US, though, and Midway Games West was finally disbanded in 2003, the third or fourth time Atari "died" (No, I didn't skip the second time... keep reading). The rights to Atari's arcade output from 1984 through 2003 were transferred to Warner Bros. Entertainment in 2009; you should bug them if you want a new version of Klax or something.

Today's bankruptcy has to do (loosely) with the other branch of the original Atari, responsible for home hardware and software (and control of the rights to the company's pre-1984 arcade classics, like Pong, Centipede, Breakout, Asteroids, and Missile Command). This bit of the original Atari was sold to Commodore founder Jack Tramiel in 1984, meaning that, in a way, the maker of the relatively niche (for gaming purposes) Commodore 64 actually triumphed over the market-dominating Atari 2600 in the end.

Starting in 1984, Tramiel tried to revive the Atari brand with hardware like the Atari ST computer, the Atari Lynx portable game player, and the Atari Jaguar home console. When all of these efforts failed (somewhat disastrously, in the case of the Jaguar), Atari died its second "death," with the pieces getting sold off to little-known Hasbro Interactive in 1998. This incarnation of Atari was responsible for the surprisingly decent revamp Pong: The Next Level on the original PlayStation and other platforms.

Meanwhile, a company named GT Interactive, founded in 1993, was busy publishing games ranging from Doom II, Unreal, and Duke Nukem 3D expansion packs to PlayStation franchises like Driver and Oddworld. Following a brief downturn for GT Interactive, French conglomerate Infogrames Entertainment, SA, bought the company in 1999. Infogrames then bought a controlling interest in Hasbro Interactive (including the remnants of the failed Atari Inc.) in 2001, arguably marking a third "death" for Atari as it existed under the Hasbro banner.

Stay with me now. At this point, GT Interactive began publishing games under the "Atari" label, though the developer was officially known as Infogrames Interactive. It wasn't until 2003 that the French parent company realized that no one knew or cared what "Infogrames" was. So Infogrames renamed the whole company to "Atari Inc.," and renamed Infogrames Interactive (née GT Interactive) to Atari Interactive in 2003.

The death of today's “Atari”

The new Atari Inc., as it existed in the 2000s, was a multiheaded beast that at points encompassed a huge variety of unrelated companies and franchises. It controlled the Civilization series until 2004, when it sold it off to Take-Two Interactive for $22.3 million. Earthworm Jim and MDK maker Shiny Entertainment became part of Atari Inc. through a buyout in 2002, before it was sold off again in 2006. Atari bought City of Heroes maker Cryptic studios in 2008, before selling it off in 2011.

Things got so convoluted that, at one point, the 2001 PS2 remake of Spy Hunter was developed by Atari Inc. subsidiary Paradigm Entertainment and published by Midway Games, which controlled the dying remnants of the original Atari's arcade division. Never mind that the original Spy Hunter had nothing whatsoever to do with Atari.

It's a bit hard to follow, but all of this is just a long-winded way of showing how little the current "Atari" has to do with the original company that made the name famous. The French company that currently sports the name didn't even exist when Atari was founded and only got the name through a complicated series of acquisitions of the less successful home-console half of the original company. None of the people involved with the original Atari are part of this new company's DNA in any way, shape, or form. Interestingly though, original Atari founder Nolan Bushnell joined the new Atari's board of directors in 2010, through investor Blubay holdings.

Today's bankruptcy filing reflects the weakness of this new, largely unrelated company more than the weakness of the legendary Atari brand. All those acquisitions and sales mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg as far as the French company's flailing lack of focus in the last decade or so—and a large part of why it hasn't shown a profit since 1999. In fact, the US branch of Atari is filing for bankruptcy today largely to escape the debt-ridden French parent company that is holding it back, according to a press release.

Though this is the fourth or fifth death for "Atari" since 1974, depending on how you count, the name will doubtlessly live on. The Atari brand and logo still hold real nostalgic power, and they are recognized by 90 percent of Americans, according to a recent survey. In fact, 17 percent of Atari's US revenues reportedly come from licensed products sporting the Atari logo or name, according to an LA Times report. The company has been milking the nostalgia extra hard recently, with mobile hits like Atari's Greatest Hits, Breakout: Boost, and Asteroids: Gunner.

Sure, Atari hasn't had a new, homegrown hit franchise since Roller Coaster Tycoon (developed and scooped into the Atari umbrella during the Hasbro Interactive days), but the company's name recognition and stable of legendary brands pretty much ensures it will exist in some form for years to come. But let's be clear: "Atari" as it currently exists is just a holding entity for a brand devoted almost entirely to nostalgia, with no core business legacy or history tracing it to the people behind the original company. This makes it decidedly different from classic gaming names like Nintendo or Sega, which have gone through changes but maintained their core structure and corporate memory over the decades.

In other words, don't mourn for Atari today... it's already dead. And yet, at the same time, it will live on, probably forever.

What's also worth mentioning in the Atari history is the birth of Tengen. After Atari and "Atari Games" (the arcade division) split into two companies, the latter was not legally allowed to use the Atari name in the console market. They therefore ported their arcade titles under a new name, Tengen - said name is also related to the Japanese game Go which inspired Atari's name.

Tengen was most famous for being in a HUGE legal battle over their "unlicensed" version of Tetris and subsequent releasing of NES games without a license from Nintendo. They also released the greatest sports game of all time (full disclosure - I may be biased since I have a website for said game), RBI Baseball.

Just wanted to add that the Atari ST had a massive impact on the music industry and you'd find one in most - if not all - recording studios in its day. Someone else was right to point out that their legacy wasn't restricted to games and gaming consoles.

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Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

Just wanted to add that the Atari ST had a massive impact on the music industry and you'd find one in most - if not all - recording studios in its day. Someone else was right to point out that their legacy wasn't restricted to games and gaming consoles.

I was a big fan of the company back in the 80s, loved programming 6502 on the 8-bit Atari computers, and Nolan Bushnell was my first business idol. No relation to the current company of course, but I still have my soft spot.

Speaking as someone who worked at the company making the announcement today, from 2003 to 2012, I hope that those still there land on their feet and that things worked out. Say what you wish about the people who ran the show, or even the games themselves, but there were some really talented and smart people that I worked with during my tenure there.

I really hope for the best for the employees that worked at Atari (not the managers, though). However, I think that Atari should just die, I'd like to remember the old days with good feelings of nostalgia, and not what became of Atari in recent times...

What's also worth mentioning in the Atari history is the birth of Tengen. After Atari and "Atari Games" (the arcade division) split into two companies, the latter was not legally allowed to use the Atari name in the console market. They therefore ported their arcade titles under a new name, Tengen - said name is also related to the Japanese game Go which inspired Atari's name.

Tengen was most famous for being in a HUGE legal battle over their "unlicensed" version of Tetris and subsequent releasing of NES games without a license from Nintendo. They also released the greatest sports game of all time (full disclosure - I may be biased since I have a website for said game), RBI Baseball.

Indeed, I should have thought to mention that in the article as well. Well summarized.

I'm confused. Is this the Infogrames' Atari that is now dead? There were too many different iterations for me to keep track. We need one of those aquisition charts like the one for Ma Bell to be able to accurately picture this.

Yes, the US division of what used to be called Infogrames is what is filing for bankruptcy. It just happens to be called "Atari"

What they really needed to do was milk the hell out of their ancient IP. All those people who played it when they were kids have smartphones now, and modernized, but still simple, versions of their old games could have been a hit in the "casual" scene.

Or perhaps undead? But I was commenting on current Commodore, which makes PCs disguised as Amigas. Amiga Inc, aside from emulated Amiga games, currently seem to do nothing Amiga-related, except for licensing some stuff to 3rd parties.

I own an Amiga 1000, which I'm fond of. Jay Miner's dog footprint and all.

I loved ATARI games as a kid, but they kind of turned into the corporate version of an old celebrity. The kind you have an argument with a friend about whether they are dead or alive, and have to go to imdb to find the answer. ATARI, the Abe Vigoda of gaming.

Atari bought City of Heroes maker Cryptic studios in 2008, before selling it off in 2011.

Might be worth noting that Cryptic Studios had already sold off the City of Heroes IP (November 2007) to NCsoft prior to acquisition by Atari. That developer division (originally founded as NCsoft NorCal) was then re-branded as wholly owned subsidiary of NCsoft called Paragon Studios (April 2009). Paragon Studios then closed its doors in November 2012, taking City of Heroes with it (for the time being).

Tengen was most famous for being in a HUGE legal battle over their "unlicensed" version of Tetris and subsequent releasing of NES games without a license from Nintendo. They also released the greatest sports game of all time (full disclosure - I may be biased since I have a website for said game), RBI Baseball.

You're not biased. RBI Baseball was one of the greatest sports games of all time, up there with TECMO Superbowl.

I'm not sure which part of Atari died this time, but if it was the part that did the bait and switch offer in the iOS App Store, ie free unlimited download weekend, but then did various things like fail to say that updating the app would kill this feature, or trying to sell tokens for free games, then I'm glad it perished.

Eh, I am right or Atari published some good rpg's in last year? (Neverwinter Nights, The Witcher?)

More accurately they smacked in terrible anti-piracy methods into Neverwinter Nights that forced a lot of paying customers to use pirated exe's just to play their games. I guess you could argue that was better than what EA did with Bioware.

Still this isn't the Atari that caused Nintendo to come up with their Seal of Quality. There have been a few decent games that have existed under this name (NWN wasn't otherwise bad) though I've never really cared for them using the Atari name like it means anything.

Then again I feel about the same way about Sega. Since they've left the console selling market I haven't felt anything come close to what I liked about the Genesis days.

Atari (back when they really were "Atari") was probably the first anti-piracy crusader (ignoring Bill Gate's "open letter"). They were making huge lawsuits (and a huge propaganda blast with full page magazine ads saying "piracy: this game is over) over "look and feel" long before the original "look and feel" lawsuit.

I'm pretty sure this has everything to do with being owned by the media company Warner.

Atari was only Atari in name. As a company the REAL Atari died when Nolan Bushnell sold the company and walked away. This incarnation of Atari never achieved anything close to what Atari did in the 70's and 80's. This company lacked any kind of the ingenuity and creativity needed to produce truly good and fresh games.

Nolan Bushnell was ousted in 1978. This was before Asteroids, Missile Command, Tempest, Centipede, the Atari 400/800, Star Raiders, 1200xl/600xl/800xl/128xl, the various ST computers, the "silver age" games listed (gauntlet, SF rush, etc.).

He may have left the company in the hands of management who would call the engineers who had to do every job listed in modern game credits and then spit out machine language code that directly changed what the beam wrote (at least on 2600 games) "towel designers", but the old gang still had some life left.

Atari bought City of Heroes maker Cryptic studios in 2008, before selling it off in 2011.

Might be worth noting that Cryptic Studios had already sold off the City of Heroes IP (November 2007) to NCsoft prior to acquisition by Atari. That developer division (originally founded as NCsoft NorCal) was then re-branded as wholly owned subsidiary of NCsoft called Paragon Studios (April 2009). Paragon Studios then closed its doors in November 2012, taking City of Heroes with it (for the time being).

-mhac³

Ah yes, NCSoft, closing down profitable games, closing down unprofitable games, closing every game they can get their hands on, and then not selling the rights to other parties. Wonderful people over there, led by Taek Jin Kim. I wonder if he personally was the one that green-lit the project to fraudulently write a letter in Richard Garriot's name about his 'resignation'? At least he got back some of the millions that they owed him over that bullcrap.

Just wanted to add that the Atari ST had a massive impact on the music industry and you'd find one in most - if not all - recording studios in its day. Someone else was right to point out that their legacy wasn't restricted to games and gaming consoles.

I had one! It was nice but I kind of wish my dad bought us the Amiga instead. I think the Atari was cheaper, that's why. One of our friends even had the hard drive add-on. I think it was 20 MB.

ASU, a non-profit, is seeking to save Atari, support collaboration, teach game development, and release open-source titles. This is probably one of the largest crowd-funding projects so far. http://SaveAtari.com